Marriage amendment groups rake in millions

The groups fighting over a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in Minnesota have raised more than $7.15 million since January

The lead group opposing the amendment, Minnesotans United for All Families, has raised $5.96 million this year, including more than $2.5 million since the last report in July.

The group backing the amendment has raised $1.19 million overall in 2012, with more than 70 percent of the money coming from two organizations —the Minnesota Catholic Conference Marriage Defense Fund donated $600,000 and the Minnesota Family Council Marriage Protection Fund gave $250,000.

While Minnesota for Marriage has leaned heavily on several large donors to fund their campaign, the anti-amendment group Minnesotans United has drawn contributions from more than 44,000 people, more than 90 percent of them from Minnesota.

But, with less than six weeks until voters head to the polls, the fundraising gap between opponents and supporters is less daunting: Minnesotans United has $751,000 stocked away for the election stretch run while Minnesota for Marriage has $483,000 banked.

Voter ID

The constitutional amendment that would require voters to present photo identification before they can vote has attracted about $585,000 in cash donations this year, less than a tenth of the total for the marriage amendment.

Our Vote Our Future, the main group trying to defeat the amendment, has raised $355,300 and has more than a quarter million dollars banked for the election stretch run. Most of the organization’s support, whether via cash or in-kind contributions, has come from four sources — church coalition ISAIAH, the Minnesota AFL-CIO, The Take Action Political Fund and Gov. Mark Dayton’s former wife, Alida Messinger, who donated $75,000.

ProtectMyVote.com, the lead group supporting the amendment, has raised $230,600 and has $33,100 stocked away.

Their biggest donor thus far has been Joan Cummins who has contributed $150,000. She is the wife of businessman Robert Cummins, who, dating back to the 1990s, has donated millions to Republican candidates and causes.

A Duluth native who just barely lost Virginia's GOP gubernatorial primary said that politicians have not gone far enough in condemning the left for violence during a rally of white nationalists in Charlottesville. "I think that the left is going to try to use this as an excuse to crack down on conservative free speech," said Corey Stewart. "I think they're going to try to use this as an excuse to remove more historical monuments."